Thursday, June 16, 2011

Down on the Farm: 6/16//2011

AAA Fresno Grizzlies defeated the Tacoma Rainiers 8-4:

Conor Gillaspie(3B)- 2 for 3, 3B, BB. BA= .283.
Thomas Neal(LF)- 2 for 4, SB(5). BA= .325.
Hector Sanchez(C)- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .273.
Barry Zito(LHP)- 6 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 6.00.

I have a feeling Sanchez is going to get a chance to show what he can do in the Show at some point this season. I can't think of any pitcher on the Active Roster I would be happy to send out to make room for Barry Zito right now.

AA Richmond Flying Squirrels outslugged the Binghampton Mets 11-9:

Jason Christian(LF)- 2 for 4, HR(4), BB. BA= .255.
Roger Kieschnick(RF)- 2 for 4, HR(6), SF. BA= .256.
Wes Hodges(1B)- 1 for 2, 2B, 2 BB. BA= .250.
Chris Dominguez(3B)- 0 for 4, BB. BA= .000.
Heath Hembree(RHP)- 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, Save(1). ERA= 0.00.

Kieschnick drove in 5 runs. Dominguez and Hembree make their AA debuts.

A+ San Jose Giants beat the Modesto Nuts 6-3:

Gary Brown(CF)- 1 for 4, 3B. BA= .332.
Tommy Joseph(C)- 2 for 4. BA= .253.
Michael Main(RHP)- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 0.79.
Mitch Lively(RHP)- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's, Save(1). ERA= 1.82.

Joseph continues his hot hitting. Michael Main is back from the DL and missing bats as well as the strike zone. Is Lively the new closer for San Jose?

Augusta Greenjackets edged the Asheville Tourists 6-5:

Chris Lofton(CF)- 2 for 3, 2B, BB, SB(9). BA= .263.
Rafael Rodriquez(LF)- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .248.
Brett Bochy(RHP)- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 1.98.
Stephen Harrold(RHP)- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's, Save(10). ERA= 2.01.

Lofton was moved up to #2 in the batting order and seemed to like it there. Young Mr. Bochy seems to be for real.

Salem-Keizer Volcanoes played an exhibition game against a local All Star team. I wasn't able to find a boxscore or game wrap anywhere at this time. Will add it in if it becomes available.

DSL- the entire DSL was rained out.

16 comments:

  1. I think one of ToJo's hits was changed to an error...

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  2. correa got kicked up to richmond...someone musta got dfa after tonite

    hembree and dominguez came in on the redeye...hurt chris...not hembree, but both went straight to bed after the game

    according to sj pbp guy, lively is the new closer, but they are still discussing going with closer by committee

    zito threw 96 pitches through 6....they were taking him deep into counts...his fb was around 82-85 all night...his breaking stuff was there

    but the tuscon kids are all big hitters...they were swinging for the fences and zito got them to roll over on balls...aint gonna happen in the pros....the dinger he gave up hit the scoreboard

    unless sabean can work out a smart trade for one of the giants pen arms...and im talking smart, as in a catcher who is an upgrade to what they have...there is no way in hell that someone can be dfa to make room for zito

    may have to bite the bullet...fans would understand

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  3. They were gonna go with Corréa for closer, but that lasted all of half a day before he got promoted as well.

    Main struggled wildly, but calmed down a bit and worked out of jams. He told me yesterday that his shoulder has been feeling good and didn't anticipate any lingering effects.

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  4. I agree about Sanchez. When I heard that he got jumped to AAAFrom SJ despite soso stats, I went and looked at your prospect post on him and it confirmed my thought, as you noted that his defense was considered good. I have to think that Decker is putting finishing touches on his catching skills so that the Giants can bring him up when he is ready.

    And it is not like his bat is that bad either, despite his youth relative to league, he has been able to avoid strikeouts well enough. So I think if given the chance, while he would not be as good as Posey, he would be better than what we have been getting so far from Whiteside and Stewart, plus is in better shape to catch a full season in majors, though in tandem with Whiteside, who would still see more starts than if Posey was around.

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  5. Oh, I would have no problem letting go of Mota before DFAing Zito. Zito has been a good pitcher the past two seasons, and if he can get his velocity up while working out of the bullpen, then he can go back to starting. He could also become our dedicated guy we go to once we get past ten innings, and eat up innings there.

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  6. Zito has been a good pitcher the past two seasons
    ___________________________________________

    zito has been good for exactly 2 months in 2010...that is not good for 2 seasons

    he has never had a era below 4 or thrown 200 innings for the giants

    and you want to dfa an arm for this pos??????

    are you as crazy as pink peter, who wrote out the worst contract in the history of this sport???

    according to urban, zito hit 88 once...threw mostly at 85...think he will attack the zone with that kind of crap??

    most of the guys on the tacoma team dont have mlb xp...but the one who does...tagged him for a huge dinger

    honestly...ive said it before...for this signing alone, most other teams would have jettisoned sabean...even if it was peter who pushed the signing

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  7. An uninspiring line from Zito. The Grizzlies led for a while so maybe he got careless. Still, AAA.

    What's up with B. Bochy? I thought it was a goodwill draft but he's doing decently.

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  8. As always, thanks for the info Doc and all.

    Bacci, appreciate your stuff as well. (Letting us know Wednesday Night that Hembree and Dominguez were on their way to Richmond and all.)

    The Giants really do have a problem. They won't DFA Zito. And he can't knock anyone off the roster. The Giants are stalling big time, hoping an injury will make their decision for them. (I'm doubting they'll be able to make a trade before the rehab is up.)

    Bacci, don't blame Sabean for what was a marketing decision in signing Zito. It's all McGowan. I remember Peter's quote after signing Bonds for $19 million in '06, defending the dollar amount: "Well, you don't want to embarrass the guy."

    I was absolutely stunned. Bonds wasn't going anywhere. We were bidding against ourselves.

    Same with Zito. Mets were in for 5 years. Minaya repeated that again and again. "We will not go six years on a pitcher." We show up with 7 years. Lunacy.

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  9. Brett Bochy was the closer for a major college program with 94 MPH fastball, so he is a serious pitcher in his own right.

    I mostly blame Magowan for the Zito signing, but I do think Sabes could have resigned rather than go along with something that insane. Again, I don't think it's very productive to blame and scapegoat Sabes for what happened in the past. Magowan has already walked the plank for it so we know who the other owners blamed. What's important is Sabes started this team moving in the right direction with the LIncecum draft and has stayed the course. He put together a championship team and still has it moving in the right direction long term.

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  10. Kelly

    i know the signing was all on peter's shoulders...and im sure that sabean got a verbal guarantee that if zito didnt pan out, he would remain blameless...i just wish that sabean had stuck to his guns

    the zito contract is gonna kill this team

    and i think the bonds contract was fine...it was a reward...the man put butts in the seats

    zito drew very well in fresno...he should stay there...maybe they can finally go in the black

    lots of pen movement yesterday

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  11. Bacci,

    The Zito contract is not a fun thing, granted, but it's "gonna kill this team?" Isn't that indulging in just a bit of hyperbole? First of all, the big problem right now is not Zito's contract, but what are they going to do with him? Bochy is already on record, not once but TWICE, that "Vogey isn't going anywhere." Options that Bochy has put on the table include long relief, 6 starters or a 6'th "relief starter" role. I don't see how any of those scenarios are "gonna kill this team."

    Secondly, the Giants have given no indication that Zito's contract will prevent them from signing and re-signing the players they need to stay at a high competitive level. By all indications, current ownership has long since written Zito's contract off as a sunk cost and has moved on. The only question left is whether they will DFA him if it becomes obvious he can't pitch at all any more.

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  12. doc,

    first, happy to see that you arent on call tonite

    reason i am saying that, is despite all of sabean's protestations to the contrary, zito's contract hurts this team's abilities to make moves at the deadline

    think they would be balking at the reyes move if they had the cash to get him a long term?

    it also hurts them in the fa market

    they cant/wont go to the 6 rotation

    they could do the minor league trick with him....durty told that he no longer has to go deep into games and he and zito split that start...but still, what he is throwing is basically bp

    he makes the pen worse...and while he seems to be an all around nice guy and good teammate...he makes the team worse

    if he is indeed sunk cost...then they have to do the right thing....dfa him...let him pass through waivers...and grit their teeth when they are paying for him to pitch for the yankees

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  13. bacci, i like what you're saying... especially picturing Barry Zito's 84mph fastball hitting the middle of the plate in the AL East.

    I know a lot of fans are concerned that a pitcher may wear down or go down with injury, in which case Zito is a good option. In my opinion, Eric Surkamp could probably throw to MLB Hitters as well as Zito at this point.

    I just think Zito taking a hike really let's everyone start looking forward a little easier without a big contract dragging from behind.

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  14. p.s. Connor Gillaspie had a few confience-booster hits in the bigs, I hope he carries that with him and starts a .300+ tear for the rest of the year in AAA.

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  15. There is no way the Giants DFA Zito. If that were on the table, they would trade him somewhere (Yankees?) while eating 95% of his contract, which I think, at this point, is completely possible.

    No reason to DFA him (eating 100% of his contract) and get nothing in return when you can trade him (eating 95% of his contract) and getting a B prospect or stop-gap catcher in return.

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  16. Bacci,

    Zito or no Zito, trading the farm for Reyes, and make no mistake, it would take trading the farm, would be a huge debacle. Reyes is a FA at the end of this season. No way on earth he would sign a contract extension. The Zito situation has no bearing on the Giants trading or not trading for Jose Reyes.

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